so it's doubtful that a dog training career is in my future

tonight i was watching this tv show on CBS called "dogs in the city" about this dog trainer that i guess is supposed to be the east coast version of cesar milian ... i was thinking that being a dog trainer might be a pretty cool gig ... and wondering about the likelihood of that being a future career path for me ...


of course that thought brought about the thought that if i cannot train my own dog to come when he is called and therefore can never be off a leash in the outdoors, i'm not sure i can be qualified to be an effective dog trainer ... 


and why don't i train my dog to come when he is called???  well see, here's the thing ... when we "train" with a leash and treats and special collar and all that jazz ... he comes every stinkin' time i call him ... and when we "train" in the house with treats and me going to other rooms in the house, again, he comes every stinkin' time ... but when we are outdoors and he has someone gotten free and i call him ... it's almost like he no longer has the ability to hear my voice ... 


i know when i first thought about getting Riley, my first dog, i had envisions of him being this very well mannered, obedient, submissive dog that would just always be at my feet and i would say 'jump' and he would 'jump' etc


then real life sunk in ... i live alone, it's only me doing the training, i am gone at least 9 hours a day so he must fend for himself during that time, my free time is not really existent ... etc etc etc 


the excuses piled up and before you know, i have a very happy dog who for the most part is a good dog ... albeit with his moments of being temperamental, begging food from the table, never coming when he is called and more than a  little high maintenance when it comes to being in crates or going to the dog groomers, etc BUT one that brings me great joy and much needed companionship :)


when i reflect i wonder how i wandered so far away from my intended path????


and then i imagine what all you parents out there must go through ... 


and i'm reminded yet again why it's probably a really great thing i'm very happy and content to be the world's greatest aunt and leave the parenting to others ....


because it's pretty obvious to me that the flaws in my dog are in direct correlation to the flaws in myself ... 


and i can only begin to surmise that those flaws are amplified about 100x when it comes to raising actual human beings


so my 3 positive thoughts for tonight are these:


1) the pretty brutal thunderstorms that came through our area yesterday and today were definitely not that much fun, what with loss of power and hail the size of golf balls - but the results are a very happy break in the heat & humidity!!


2) we have been rolling out a new process at work and it's of course not without it's growing pains ... however today i was paid a pretty nice compliment when i rec'd a call from one of our project managers.  she was calling me because 2 of our other sites were in a what she called a "whirlwind" about this new process and she figure that just maybe, our site wasn't in quite the same "whirlwind" so she called me to find out what we were doing and how well it was working ... i think i like being known as the calm port in the storm so to speak


3) i have have 3 nights in a row where i've been able to be home!!  can't remember when that has happened in recent times ... so i'm certainly relishing them .... crazy life starts again tomorrow ...


night night all ...


r

what a great weekend!!

every monday i walk into work and people ask the same thing ... you can probably guess what it is ... yep


"how was your weekend" and almost every monday i automatically answer "good" or "busy" ... because honestly, my weekends are virtually non-existent ... i work every saturday and every other sunday ... so what is a weekend??


(sidebar, i started watching downton abbey today and got through the first 2 episodes ... i don't know all their names yet ... but when the "ma-ma" hears that the new 3rd cousin who is a lawyer plans to learn the business of running downton abbey on the weekends, she asks hilariously "what exactly is a week-end" (and of course in her british accent, the emphasis is on the word "end" so it's even better than when i say it ... anyways, that's kind of how i feel most mondays ... what exactly is a "week-end")


anyhoo, back on track ... tomorrow when i walk into work and i get asked about my weekend i'm honestly going to be able to respond and say "it rocked"


friday night i had a very important date with the BFF ... we did a lil' shopping, had some a-mah-zing (Happy Endings anyone??) dinner at The Cheesecake Factory and then did our normal traditional wander around Target until closing time ritual ... 


saturday i worked and it was pretty stressful, cuz it was crazier than normal and the big boss lady kept insisting people be sent home ... so those of us who were left to work, were basically overworked ... nevertheless, my 8 1/2 hours FLEW by so i can't REALLY complain.  and after work, i was able to meet up with a good friend who i don't see very often and we had some drinks and very bad for us loaded french fries ... we got to sit outside and chat about our lives for a few hours which was a fantastic end to an otherwise insane day


sunday i had a 12 hour adventure ... i drove to NJ, spent several hours there and drove back home ... but while i was there i got to have much needed cuddle time with these 2 cuties

their parents and i have been friends since 2005 and have we could probably write a book on all of our adventures together ... they (sadly for me) moved to NJ a few years ago and so it's hard to see them that often anymore ... so i was happy to find the time to make the trip, to get to know their new additions and catch up on their lives

then today - Memorial Day - a national holiday to remember the sacrifices that were made so that we can have all of the freedoms we have ... my one brother is a Marine and posted this as his facebook status today 

"Is it wrong of me to be angered by signs that say "Memorial Day Celebration", like it's some party? Or when someone says "Happy Memorial Day!" or to see local politicians riding around with their names and faces stuck to the sides of classic cars through Riverside National Cemetery, where the cars will catch the attention of the many people who have gathered to honor the brave fallen service members of our armed forces? Angry is a poor choice for that last one, perhaps. Not strong enough to accurately describe my emotions."

thank you Sam for reminding me that today really is supposed to be a sober day, a day of reflection and thanksgiving, a day to remember ... and what do we as Americans do???  our malls have sales, we gather for BBQ's and we officially kick of summer ... none of those things are bad at all, but they have become what Memorial Day is actually about and not a day to remember those who died so we could be free ... 

so what did i do today??? participated in a family BBQ ... gave the dog a haircut and a bath ... hung out with my family ... and talked with my KY bro for 1 1/2 hours on the phone ... again ... all of these things are inherently good things but i neglected to take time out of my day to actively focus and reflect upon those who made that ultimate sacrifice for me ... 

but i truly am thankful and appreciative of these sacrifices ... i do understand how fortunate it was that i was born in this country and have the freedoms i have ... to worship God the way i want to worship him, to move freely from state to state, to work at a job i picked out, to have the choice to marry and have children if i so desired ....

sometimes i focus on all the things that are wrong with our country, the excess we exhibit, the expectation to have EVERYTHING when we want it (why else do stores need to be open 24 hrs a day???), to get bogged down in what is expected of us, to go to college, go in debt for that college experience, get a job that pays the bills even if we don't love it, buy a house we can't afford, buy a car we can't afford, get married, have kids we don't have time to hang out with and actually PARENT because we are too busy working to have all of this "stuff" that we don't need

phew ... 

sorry ..

okay so i am saying Thank You know to all the men and women who have sacrifice their lives so that i can live with all of these freedoms ... freedoms i take for granted and never even think about ... 

so, how was your weekend???

enjoying life (again)

so after my little mini meltdown on wed night and my little 30 minute pity party i was able to re-focus and figure out some things i could do to get me out of my funk .... 


here are my 3 things for this friday night


1) today was GREAT!!  work went really good!  my "problem child" was off so while that meant extra work, it also meant zero DRAMA!!  my boss took a few of us out to lunch today. And, my normal friday afternoon report that sometimes can take 45-60 minutes was done in 15 minutes!  i even got to leave 1/2 hour early!!  which on a holiday weekend, it's like 1/2 day :)  then met up with the BFF tonight and did a little shopping and dinner at The Cheesecake Factory - YUM ... i'm still full. today would have been enough to yank me out of my funk but wait, there's more ...


2) tomorrow is work at the 2nd job but afterwards, i'm meeting a good friend for some adult beverages and conversation - (maybe i actually DO have a social life). as well, i'm planning to head to NJ on sunday to see another good friend and her new twin baby girls :)  some of my shopping tonight was for them - children's place has the cutest clothes ever in case you didn't know this already!!  (commercial break: everything in the store is on sale this weekend - $3, $5 and $8!!!)


3) this could be construed as really lame, but i'm ALREADY excited for november 16th!!  some of you should know just by the date why this excites me ... but if you don't, it's our traditional girls trip to NYC for midnight vampire movie extravaganza!!!!! this is the last movie so therefore i'm putting it out there now, ladies ... NO EXCUSES!!!  get babysitters and put your time off requests in now for work ... i'm already wondering if we can make a 2 day excursion out of it this time??? i'm thinking we might need to watch the other 3 movies first and make a totally cheesy day out of it :)  thoughts???


alrighty all - happy rachael has returned!!
hope you all have great plans for this weekend!


r

i think my tv might be possessed ...

ok so i just have to share about the weirdest thing that's happened to me in a long time.  last night, in the middle of the night, my TV turned on all by itself ... i was in such a daze it took me some time to figure out what exactly was going on before i could figure out it was the television.  of course, i could not find the remote so i stumbled out of bed and turned off the tv... climbed back into bed and the tv turned itself on again ... then it kept turning on and off, on and off. i finally had to unplug it so i could go back to sleep ... i only vaguely remembered this happening when i woke up this morning ... but tonight i was putting away laundry and had the tv on in my room again.... turned it off, went into the living room and all of a sudden i hear the bedroom tv turn on again ... so random ... i cannot explain it ... so for now i guess, my television will be unplugged or turned on - i don't know if i have any other options ... 

am i the only person this type of stuff happens too???

tonight it kind of a low night for me and i honestly don't know if can come up with 3 positive things or not ...


what i can say is that tonight it kind of hit me that i have really been stuck in this work bubble for a long time now and that i am missing out on 'life'.  there are little people in my life that has little league games and school concerts and things of that nature, and i am not able to go support them and cheer for them ... i have friends with new babies that i have not been able to visit ... friends who are struggling with their daily grind that i don't have time to meet up with to be their friend ... i've missed birthday parties and adoption celebrations and the list really goes on and on ... 


i'm not one who normally gets depressed or low but every now and then it hits me ... tonight was one of those nights.


i know that all my working is literally paying off ... i've watched my credit card debt come really close to disappearing ... i've watched my savings account balance actually accumulate ... i'm making decisions about my future, decisions that are very exciting and life-changing...


but the daily grind of working and then working some more after a while is overwhelming


so if i haven't been the friend to you i've needed to be, if i've missed out on some of your life "events", please know i am sorry and i do recognize what i'm missing out on!


i am grateful for those of you who cheered me up tonight over text ... i sent out about 10 desperate texts tonight to different people to try to 'catch up' on what is going on in their lives, to try to see beyond my own small little world, to make some plans for socializing


and i know above all, i need to take these worries and concerns to the One who will hear me, who will provide comfort and reassurance, who can re-focus me, not on my inward selfish pitying but instead outwardly to those who are suffering in much bigger needs than my small pity party ... 


pray for me??
r

have you noticed the birds recently?

i had full intentions of blogging last night but i honestly went to bed at 930 pm and slept right through until my alarm went off this morning. my long nights last week in portland are catching up with me i think


without further ado, here are my 3 things for today


1) in my college bible study tonight, we were studying in Luke 3 where John the Baptist starts his ministry.  and we've all heard about him preparing the way for Jesus and him being able to baptize Jesus and i guess can think that he had a pretty great life.  but the message that God gave him to proclaim??  was a message of truth but was new for the Jews in that culture. in Luke 3:7, he was baptizing and apparently quite a crowd had gathered.  his first recorded words to them was to call them a "brood of vipers" ... not exactly what his crowd was expecting him to say i would imagine.  he calls out their actions, says it's no longer enough to follow all of their rules and customs.  it's no longer enough that you are "sons of Abraham" - that your bloodline makes you God's chosen people. he goes on in vs 8 to say "bear fruit in keeping with repentance".  now getting into heaven means more than which people you belong to. now it's about repenting from sins and the actions that stem from having a repentant heart.  he mentions helping the needy, being honest in your work, showing justice and being content with your wages. these are foreign concepts to people who were raised to believe if you follow all the rules outwardly, then that's enough to earn your way to heaven.  not everyone is called to proclaim the truth with such bluntness, but John was.  he ended up being beheaded due to his telling the king the truth about him marrying his sister-in-law... but he really did lay the framework for Jesus to come and say things like "the commandment says you shall not kill, but I say if a man look on another with hatred, he has committed murder in his heart"....  we all liked verses 5-6 which talk about how John would prepare the way for Jesus - by making the paths straight and even, smoothing out the rough places and making it all level so that all man could see the salvation of God.  the idea that when Jesus came to earth, all became equal in the eyes of God.  it mattered NOT who your great-grandfather was but instead it was about your heart and your willingness to repent from your selfishness

(sorry for the long winded-ness of #1)

2) as i walked riley tonight i couldn't help but notice all the birds that were out ... i'm not a huge fan of birds normally as they tend to wake me up when it's still dark out and they always find my newly clean car a perfect spot for a bathroom break ... but it was nice to listen to them all sing and think about just how many species of birds there are.  God could have given us the robin and the cardinal and we would have never known the difference.  but to see them all - some big, some tiny, some chirp, some sing and some even squawk ... the variety and beauty that they provide ... the magnitude of God's creation is mind-boggling sometimes ... and that is just the birds ....


3) have i mentioned lately how much i am actually enjoying both my jobs ... it's a fairly new thing for me to be so fulfilled and satisfied with what i'm doing.  i've been at the same place for almost 13 years now and i find i'm liking what i'm doing now much more than i ever have before ... i'm feeling very grateful and blessed


good night 
r

it's been a few days

sorry for the lapse in blogging but honestly maine was pretty boring so there wasn't really much that inspired me to write ... and then friday night and sat / sun were pretty much a blur as i was working most of that time as well ...


there were 14 of us all together in maine from my organization, including the CFO, the CMO, department heads, directors and even our new Vice President. (i'm still not 100% sure why i was there ... ha)  anyways, the VP was in her first official week on the job and that was spent with us in Maine ... we hoped we didn't scare her away...


here is one picture i will share with you from my trip.  this was taken thursday night, we did make it to the ocean in honor of one person's birthday.  we went to Cape Elizabeth and got to eat dinner at this really super cute little place called The Lobster Shack.  This was our view while we ate at picnic tables outdoors

breathtaking right???

so i have been mulling a few things over in my head and i plan to have an actual blog tomorrow with my 3 things ...


my epiphany from the last few days is that i was thought i would love to travel for my job.  i thought it would be exciting, see exotic places, the ever change scenery, meeting new people, etc. after this last week of being away, it really is not as glamorous as i once had envisioned it.  it's kind of a pain to pack dress clothes, with matching shoes and jewelry for 5 days.  it's a little sad to live out of a suitcase and be away from things familiar and comforting.  despite the ridiculously comfortable king sized bed with it's 6-7 pillows in the hotel, i missed my bed... i missed my friends and my puppy and even my co-workers.  i like my daily routine and it was disconcerting to have it all different for a week.  despite having fun and laughing a lot with some of the people i traveled with, i missed home. 


my bed felt pretty heavenly on friday night, even more so because my pup was curled up against my back :)


here is a pic of him with his new maine lobster chew to i brought home for him

good night :)

r

last week, a 6 hr mtg, this week an 8 hr mtg

yep you read that right.  i'm here in sometimes sunny portland and spent day 1 of 4 in all day meetings ... it's tedious work but the end result should be worth-while!!  so on 1 hand it was nice to be done at 430 and have the rest of the night free but on the other hand ... when your brain is tired ... what do you really want to do??? certainly not go exploring!!

so a quiet dinner in the hotel, quiet reading time in my room and then some adult beverages with some co-workers ... all in all, it's a vacation from what my regular life is like ...

1) our new VP started this week and she is spending the week with us here ... perhaps i should get to know her???

2) an hour in a very nice hotel room with a book and some york peppermint patties is quite luxurious - in case you were wondering ...

3) some of my co-workers are funnier than i knew ....

hope you all had a great day - i heard it was 'eventful' back at my office so i'm more than a little thankful i was here instead :)

night night,

r

travel day

today was honestly pretty unremarkable.  i rode 5 hours in a mini-van with 4 other co-workers to Portland, ME. here are my 3 thoughts about today


1) it's fun to laugh so hard you are literally 2 seconds away from peeing your pants - yup that actually happened to me today


2) 50 year old woman are still deep down high school girls at heart with their gossip and back-biting ... right down to which car they will ride in and which table they will sit at.  i'm very thankful i am the 'baby' of the group and can try really hard to just be 'everyone's friend' ... i will admit it's hard to not get sucked into the drama but i'm going to work really hard these next few days to be not be THAT girl


3) i do love being able to see the ocean / harbor every time we drive somewhere .. one day i'd like to live near the water ... 


more to report tomorrow
good night
r

it's a new week

today was a day to celebrate ... so here were my 3 things to celebrate this day


1) it was my 1st day off after working 29 straight days... prior to today, my last day off was April 13th (Yankees opening day and i stayed home from work to watch all the festivities).  so yes you can say i was more than a little thrilled to have today off!  i am so very thankful for my 2nd job for so many different reasons!  it's work that i enjoy, they are very flexible with my schedule and allow me to work all of the shifts i am able to work, i get along with all of my co-workers, there is no drama to get involved in, the pay is decent, and they keep moving me up and training me in new roles.  june 24th will be my 2nd anniversary with the answering service and i have enjoyed just about every shift!! can you say that about your 1st or 2nd job???


2) it was Mother's Day and i got to spend the whole day with my mom!  we went to church together, grabbed coffee at starbucks and headed on a little 1 1/2 hour roadtrip. We had some really good conversation on the way to our destination so that the 90 minutes felt more like 15!  our destination was the Mohonk Mountain House.  if you have never been here and you live in NY, you are missing out!  the location is breathtaking, the hotel itself is almost 150 years old and when you are there, time pretty much stands still.  there are all these crazy details, all of the fencing and railings are made out of actual trees, all of the buildings were built on and around these huge rocks... there is a very serene lake, tons of walking / hiking trails, potentially award winning landscaping and then there is the food.  now, you pay a very hefty price for their mother's day brunch, but i can promise you, it might just be worth every penny you pay!!  

3) i have blogged every day for over a week now!  for me that is worthy of celebrating!  i have a habit of having great ideas and getting them started and then somewhere along the way i lose interest.  so far that hasn't happened with this.  i think the discipline of it is refreshing in a way.  i have found myself at different times this last week trying to keep my mind open for possibilities of things to talk about on here.  and that has forced me to start looking at situations very differently!


i am headed back to Portland, ME tomorrow!  this time for the whole work week!  in case you were wondering, it's a lot harder to pack work clothes than jeans and shirts!!! 
i am bringing the laptop with me and plan to continue this nightly practice.  


-r

saturday night musings

happy saturday everyone!!  it was a gorgeous day today in upstate NY (well, i will say it looked like a gorgeous day out as i sat at a desk with a headset glued to my ear from 1200-830pm... anyway, i digress )


my thoughts for today are kinda jumbled and all over the place


1) a random shout-out to a co-worker!!.  when i walked into my part-time job today my "saturday buddy" Amy told me she was excited i was blogging and was even reading my blogs on her phone.  such a small statement but it made me happy :) so thanks for reading A!!  let me just tell you, amy is a very cool person and her life is very much like a musical, at times she will burst into song and at other times speaks in a random accent ... but even if i didn't know that much about her, i would know she is amazing for 1 very small fact ... she shares my mutual love and admiration for one Logan Echolls.  (if you do not know who i'm talking about, i feel very sad for you) so thanks for reading Amy!  i've subscribed to your blog too! i don't think i have enough thoughts in a day to measure up to your level of blogging ... lol


2) i'm not sure how i feel about this whole growing old gracefully thing ... first of all, am i old enough to have to think about aging gracefully?  apparently i am as i currently sit with hair dye in my hair, coloring both the roots and the dreaded grays.  do we really only get 1/3 of our life to have beautiful natural colored hair???  although if i had to vote, right now, i will take gray hair over wrinkles ... which i know are only minutes away from appearing - see i am focusing on the positive which means it still counts as blog worthy!


3) looking back over the past week, i can say that focusing on the positive and things i can share has kept me in the right frame of mind (most of the time).  when i focus on the good, i don't get bogged down in the drama and negativity that can potentially surround me at the office. i've liked reading back on what i've already written about this week and while nothing is at all earth shattering, for me i think it's good progress. i'm happy to look for life lessons in small details and even happier to have a routine in which i share those lessons with others ...


thank you to those who have read my posts this last week!  thanks for the encouraging words and please feel free to comment on here or on facebook if you want .. just knowing i have readers encourages me to continue on this journey in positive-ity :)


-r

sometimes i back away ...

instead of 3 things, tonight i just have 1 ...


my dog and i "play" this little game most nights.  he thinks the bed is too high for him to jump on himself.  therefore he comes to the side of the bed where i am sitting / laying and looks at me, as if to say, "a little help please". but when i reach down to pick him up, he backs away from me.  yep, it's that annoying.  i don't know what goes through he head .... is it a game to him? is he resisting submitting? eventually when i reach out to him, he lets me pick him up.  some nights this is the 3rd or 4th attempt. other nights, he hides under the bed and i shut off the lights and climb into bed... 

it's a good thing he's so cute huh?

i sometimes wonder if this is how we look when we accept God's help.  we know we need His help, so we approach Him and ask for the help.  He reaches down His arm to help us and we back away. why? because we are stubborn and think we'll figure it out on our own? because it can't be that easy? so we ask again and again back away when the help is offered... 


i'm thankful that God is a merciful God and has more patience than i do with my dog some nights.  because otherwise, He would have already metaphorically speaking shut out the lights and gone to bed on me, convinced i was going to sleep under then bed instead of accept His help.


i get really mad at myself sometimes for the mess i left myself get all tangled up in.  to so quickly amass so much debt and seemingly do nothing about it for a really long time. i have the tendency to ignore little problems and hope that they work themselves out.  and i'm guessing that is what i thought would happen here.  
confession time:

1. i never looked at my monthly statements, in fact i switched to paperless bills which meant i had to deal with them even less.  
2. i went online monthly and paid off the minimum payment. 
3. i never looked at the amount of interest i was being charged, nor did i look at my actual balance that was accumulating.  some months, because of the interest, my balance would increase instead of decrease.  

it never occurred to me to seek God's help when i was in this mess.  i think i thought because i had gotten myself into the mess, God would expect me to figure a way out of it. 


please let me be a lesson to someone else out there ... credit card companies are from the evil one. they are sucking the life out of most Americans and we don't even realize it ... 


r

is your life 'exciting'???

well, i'm pretty pooped out tonight because i worked both jobs today ... over 12 hrs between the 2 ... so without any big introduction, here are my 3 things for tonight ... 

1) today is the first day in over 2 weeks that i left on time, with everything checked off my task list and my desk semi-straightened!  this bodes well for tomorrow...

2) do you have a bucket list??  i think i need to make one ... there are definitely some experiences that i would like to have before i die ... and now might be the time to start putting them down on paper and checking them off my list ... (see below)

3) when i was younger i was convinced i would lead an exciting life. i figured i would be 1 of 3 things ...a stay at home mom with 5 kids, an "urbanite" living in NYC and working in a big skyscraper, or an elementary/high school teacher. (my definition of exciting is clearly not that of... say ... a skydiver...) while i have become none of those things, i love that several of my best friends are indeed these people.  and i know for a fact that they do lead busy, productive,fulfilled, even exciting (at times) lives.  

so how come that excitement passed me by??  

- a few reasons i think. 

• the biggest reason might be because i am not a very excitable person.  i'm very laid back and rarely do i get have any big emotional highs or lows.  so i'm not sure how living an exciting life would fit with my personality. 
• another reason is that i 'settled' pretty early in life.  i got my associates degree and was offered a job.  i was tired of school and was flattered at the opportunity presented to me.  
• and then it kind of spiraled downward for a little while.  i started viewing credit cards as free money, i bought a brand new car, moved out on my own and began racking up the debt.  
• as soon as i started settling into this routine, i lost the ability to even think about an exiting life. 
• my life became working for a pay check so i could make the minimum payment on my credit cards.

thankfully i saw the error of my ways and have been working very hard these last 4 years to get all my debt paid off so my life could be "free".  

the end is in sight.  i can almost taste it and trust me when i say, it's EXCITING.  i finally have possibilities ...

i wish so much i could go back and do things differently but i know that these were lessons i needed to learn the hard way.  

if i could go back now, i would have made myself finish my bachelor's degree,

i would have moved to mexico or guatemala and worked in an orphanage for a year or 2 and then i would have thought very long and hard about where i wanted to spend 40 hours of every week. 

is your life exciting?? if you could go back, what would you do differently??

i'm pretty sure i overworked my brain today

i wonder if albert einstein's brain every hurt him ... mine certainly did today ... but this blog is about the positive so how am i going to turn this around??


1) my accomplishment today ... yes ... that is how i'm viewing it ... i was in a meeting today from 8:30 to 2:00 pm.  45 patients were discussed and all that discussion was documented by me, myself and i.  i basically typed on a laptop for 5 1/2 hours ... then when that was over with, i had all the rest of my work waiting for me. including some quality data reporting.  wait, don't fall asleep yet.  i'm happy about how much i got accomplished today!  despite my brain hurting ...


2) last night in my college bible study, we were studying luke chapter 2 ... when the baby Jesus is presented at the temple when he was 40 days old.  i've never thought about the reason he was presented before.  we studied some of the jewish culture.  the 40 days was the time it took for mary to be deemed 'clean' after giving birth.  and by default mary's baby would be deemed unclean as well.  that would explain why the jews might have been resistant to Jesus being their savior. how could their deliverer have ever been deemed 'unclean'.  it's interesting to think and talk about those early days of Jesus.  how at age 12 he knew more than the smartest scholars of the day.  we talked about just when as a young child he realized He was the Son of God.  maybe all along??  we may have even discussed the merit of tattooing on our bodies the questions we want to ask God when we get to heaven ... 


3) draw something is my favorite app right now ... i've had it about a month now and i'm addicted.  and i'm not even a good artist!!!  do you play??? if so, start a game with me!!!  it's a little lame to admit i know but were you in a 6 hour meeting today???


if you are reading, leave me a comment ... :)


r-

short and sweet

so ... i stayed up way past my bedtime tonight to watch The Voice finale! but i wanted to make sure i stick with this more than 2 days ... so here are my 3 quickies for today


1) dunkin donuts iced tea is my new favorite drink ... 


2) my college bible study group rocks.  even on nights like tonight when i'm drained and don't have much to give, we still manage to dig deep into the word and find some hidden truths ...


3) i'm heading back to maine for work next week - for the whole week this time!  i'm pretty excited about this for a couple reasons ... a) it shows that the CEO of my organization has faith in my ability b) it allows me to be away from my normal routine but still be working and c) having a room to myself these days is by far a luxury for which i'm very excited!


that's it for me tonight ... a deeper blog tomorrow night ...


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case of the monday's

okay so day 2 of the new blog - is that a habit forming???  talk to me at day 14 i guess ...
so my 3 things for today ...

1) when you work 7 days a week, you don't really think monday is a bad thing ... it's just another day of work ... now sure, i don't get to sleep in and perhaps go to church before heading to work, but it's feeling more and more like just another day.  today a co-worker was talking about being ready for friday already but it dawned on me that wishing for friday isn't really all that productive ... because wishing for friday means monday will again be just around the corner.  i don't mind mondays (other than the getting up early part).  sure mondays are busy and it's never a day that i can 'ease' into my work, but it goes by fast ... and i feel like i'm really productive ... so hopefully you don't hear me complaining about mondays in the near future

2) i mentioned the tulip festival yesterday ... i'm happy to say that Riley and i went to the park this afternoon so we could see all the tulips and enjoy this gorgeous weather.  i have to admit i was wrong yesterday.  the tulips aren't at peak right now, they are beyond peak - which makes me sad.  the happy part is that i did get some great pictures!  and i have to say when it's sunny out and the subject matter is brightly colored works of art, my iPhone makes me look like a professional photographer.

i really do love the fancy tulips - even their leaves are pretty

breathtaking

3) i have been the biggest naysayer of all things 'reality tv' for the past 10 years or so.  but i do have to confess, finally 1 of them has one me over.  i started watching The Voice last year in it's first season and i was hooked immediately.  this year is about the be over, the winner will be announced tomorrow night and i throughly enjoyed tonight's finale.  the 4 finalists got to sing 3 times, once by themselves, once in a duet with their coach and once as a tribute they sang one of their coach's song back to them.  i just spent the last 2 hours pretty much smiling at the tv.  so i figured i could mention it here because it really was a very positive part of my day ...

as far as mondays go, this one was a really good one.  i'm excited to see what tomorrow brings

good night all ... 

new title

so...


i'm attempting to refresh my outlook on life. my old blog name was 'organized chaos' but that doesn't really apply to my life at this present time... 


you see, i currently work 2 jobs and sometimes feel that i don't have time to breath, much less actually sit down and type a full blog.  


i would however like to try to focus each day on the positive or inspiring.  so i'm hoping the change in title will force me to evaluate each day and find the good, the positive, the God-moments, the funny or the beautiful.


i'm guessing this will be harder than if i were focusing on the cynical or sarcastic on a daily basis.  that comes quite naturally to me but i don't want to necessarily encourage that part of me ... 


here we go ...


1) have you noticed the tulips?? they are at absolute peak right now where i live. and i love each and every variety of them!  my city has this pretty sweet annual festival just to celebrate the tulips each mother's day.  i am determined to visit the park this week and take in all the color and beauty they have to offer. (look for pictures coming soon)


2) do you keep reminders of the times God was faithful in your life? my pastor today finished up a 4-part series on spiritual growth entitled "it's time to move".  today's message was on why we don't move in our spiritual growth. one point he brought up is how easily we can be distracted by the mundane trials of being a human being. he pointed out that in the old testament, they built memorials as reminders of times when God was faithful to his people. he suggested we might need to keep a memorial of some sort to remind us of God's faithfulness in our life. so on days we are contemplating doubting God's love or grumbling about the circumstances in our life that are 'inconvenient', we can quickly be reminded of that fact that God is faithful and will not leave us or forsake us


3) my dog makes me smile - currently he is laying next to me on the couch.  he is always thrilled to see me when i walk through the door and my mere presence makes him ecstatic.  it's hard to stay upset or be grumpy when met with his joy.


so how did i do??  honestly it's harder than it should be.  i aim to improve


enjoy your sunday night